August brought some excellent news of academic achievement at A level and GCSE. There were some very good individual and departmental performances at A level. A record A*%; A*/B% of 63.4%, the third highest ever and the first time >60% since the latest changes were made to A level specifications; A*/C % > 80%. A good number of departments have achieved A*/B% and/or A*-C% ahead of the overall averages: Chemistry, English, Geography, History, Maths & Further Maths, Politics (as well as smaller cohorts in French, German and Spanish). Seventeen students gained three or more A grade passes at A level: Jack Baker, Eleanor Brennan, Natasha Cottingham, Sze Wing Chan, Jamie Grubb, Calvin Kwok, Natasha May, Toby Tang, Lulu Wang (all 4 or more A/A* passes); Preeti Bola, Tim Harrison, Charley Hutchinson, Lizzie Roughton, Sarah Roughton, Cherry Shin, Cecily Whiteley, Michael Wright.

At GCSE the A*-C pass rate comfortably exceeded 90% with 42.3% A*/A. Thirty candidates achieved six or more A* passes and 16 candidates achieved nothing less than A*/A. Lizzie Hawkins and Cameron Saunders achieved 10 A* passes, closely followed by Flora Biggins, Eleanor Burkey, Marina Newton, Thea Palm, Lauren Wood (9 A*), Robert Bickerton, Nathan Kelly, Jack Maplesden, Daniel Radigan, Michael Radigan, Katie Wilson, Tim Cahill (8 A*).